How To Know If You’re Allergic To Semen

When you get redness, swelling, and itchiness down there, it’s easy to assume it’s a yeast infection, or perhaps an STD. But experts say it may actually be a sign of an allergy to semen—yup, semen—causing your symptoms. While rare, a semen allergy can happen, and they’re not always easy to detect. Here's what you need to know.

Common symptoms include redness, swelling, pain, itching, and a burning sensation in the vagina that usually starts about 10 to 30 minutes after you have contact with semen. Symptoms aren’t just restricted to your vagina, though: They can happen on your skin or in your mouth as well.

Semen allergies can actually be pretty serious: While the ISSM says that symptoms can be localized, they can also impact your whole body, causing hives, swelling, trouble breathing, or anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction.

“It’s not very common, but it’s more common than people may realize,” women’s health expert Jennifer Wider, M.D., tells SELF. It actually may happen more often than doctors realize because some people may not recognize or report it, she says.

While severe semen allergies happen, you shouldn’t freak out and worry that unprotected sex with your partner will send you into anaphylactic shock: Maureen Whelihan, M.D., an ob/gyn at the Center for Sexual Health & Education, tells SELF that those cases are incredibly rare.

The more common symptoms are similar to those of a yeast infection or herpes. So how can you know if you have a semen allergy or one of those infections? For one thing, Wider points out, the characteristic cottage cheese-like discharge in yeast infections isn’t there with a semen allergy. Sherry Ross, M.D., an ob/gyn and women's health expert in Santa Monica, Calif., tells SELF that figuring out that you have a semen allergy is largely done through the process of elimination. Doctors will typically test for infections as well as allergies to latex, spermicide, and lubrication products—all of which are more common allergies—before looking into a semen allergy, she says.

If a semen allergy is suspected, your ob/gyn may send you to an allergist who can do a skin test with your partner's semen to confirm it. You can also do some sleuthing on your own, provided your symptoms are minor. Timing can help you figure it out, Wider says, since you’ll typically notice these symptoms soon after your partner ejaculates.

There may be a cure for people with more mild semen allergies, though: A case study of a semen allergy sufferer published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology found that intravaginal desensitization (i.e. small exposures of semen in the vagina) essentially cured a woman of her allergy.

Condom use can also help, Wider says, as can taking an antihistamine before having unprotected sex. But, if you suffer extreme semen allergies, your doctor may want you to carry an EpiPen as a precaution.

Naturally, a sperm allergy can make it difficult to get pregnant. However, the ISSM says women with this allergy can still get pregnant through artificial insemination or IVF, and the allergy shouldn't impact the pregnancy.

If you suspect that you have a semen allergy, talk to your doctor. Whelihan recommends keeping a diary of your symptoms and even taking photos to show your doctor to help figure out what’s going on. And, if your symptoms are severe or bother you, use a condom until you can get to the bottom of things.